Feel free to add to or edit information in this discussion tab as necessary. Please take time to become familiar with the General Keying Standards and be sure to read all instructions on the main project page. (Please note that in case of a discrepancy, project level instructions always trump general keying standards.)

Contents

Extra Keying Helps

Sheriff's Cash Book is to be keyed as Miscellaneous form type - Anna said so on the message board. --Katerimmer 18:45, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Common Keying Errors Found by Reviewers

Questions and Answers

If you have a keying question that is not answered on the project page or in any of the information above, click “EDIT” and ask it here. (If you click on Rich Editor you won't have to worry about formatting your entry.) Then click “WATCH” at the top right on this page and you will be notified via email when an update has been made.

General

Q: Since it seems relevant, especially in considering these are criminal documents, should we be keying Sheriff, Constable, Chief of Police, etc as prefixes? They are not included in the drop down menu.

Fee Book

Q: I have pages entitled "Sheriff's Fees and Expenses in Criminal Matters" which I take to be a Fee Book, however the instructions for Fee Books say we are only keying Defendant and Plaintiff names. The problem is, I have what looks like jury lists (paid for mileage) which is a wealth of resident data - am I really to ignore all that resident data and only key in P & D names, or is this image not from a Fee Book - should I do this book as Miscellaneous instead? Is this the "Sheriff's Cash Book" referred to above?

A: These should be classified as a Miscellaneous form type.

Q: I have two Sheriff's Fee Book images. Both have Date, Number, Plaintiff, Defendant, and Process Heading titles across the top. Keying the page of the first image is self-explanatory, until near the bottom. There, it is in a one-column, list-like format with a boxed off section titled as "State of California", followed by three items (individual names) below that. There is a date beside each name, and in the numbers section of each item, it is either labeled as "T.J.C., or A.J.C". Since there are just names listed with these labels, in which field would these names be placed in, if any? On the second image, there is an entry among the other normal ones. "Estate of John Smith, Deceased" is written across the length of the line, until the Process section which has "citation" listed in it. Which section would this entry be placed in, and which section would be marked "blank"? Thank you in advance!

A: Without seeing the image here is my answer for the first image. Enter the names in the Given and Surname field and enter the dates as the Record dates.

For the second image are you asking where the name should be entered? If so, when in doubt enter the name in the Given and Surname fields. Annafechter 19:53, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Register of Actions

Q: Couples vs Couples: Leota J King and Sydney E King vs. Miranda Fuller and Simeon J Fuller. How many records would this be? I want to make it 4 to reference each plaintiff to each defendant, but something tells me this is wrong. Same issue goes for one child vs both his/her parents: 2 records??

A: My suggestion would be to enter Leota vs Miranda on one record and then Sydney vs Siemon on a second record. Then all 4 individuals are referenced and would be found during a search. For the one child vs both his parents, I would suggest entering two records, one versus each parent. That way all 3 individuals are referenced. SlinkyM 02:26, 03 April 2013 (UTC)

Q: If the Defendant is listed as "A. H. Williams et al", should "et al" be entered into the Suffix field or be ignored as it is not part of the person's name and just means there are other unnamed Defendants?

Q: I have a court listed on a Register of Action that is not in California The court is in Multnomah County, Oregon. Should the county be written as "Multnomah" or "Multnomah, OR"?

A: The instructions state to only enter the county, so in this case it would be "Multnomah". --SlinkyM</a> 02:30, 03 April 2013 (UTC)

Q: I have run across a record where the defendant is listed as "Surlock, John Doe One Doe Two". 1) Do I enter two records or one, since there are clearly two defendants but I don't have their names? 2) Do I enter the first name as John Doe or leave it blank?

A: No, you would not enter John Doe, especially since in this situation you know it's not their real name. Only enter the individuals who are named.

Q: I have come across a registry entry that has 2 people listed as the Plaintiff. How do I enter that? Please do not reply with "I would or You could" enter such and such, but reply with a definitive answer.

A: When there are two plaintiffs they should each be keyed on a separate line - thus creating a record for each individual.

Q: I have asked the question directly above this statement over a week ago and would like a reply. Today is 16 Apr 2015 and I only have 4 days left before it is returned.

Q: I have some Sheriff's Register of Actions image sets dating from around 1878 that seem to pertain to Justices Court. On the left hand side of each image, under "Title of Action" heading is "Justices Court A C Neill J P" hand-written across the top, followed by a section entitled, "The People, Plaintiffs". Nothing else is written. Next, what appears to be the name of an Attorney acting on behalf of the plaintiff, in these cases, "The People" of the court locality the action in question took place in is filled in the blank beside "Plaintiff's Attorney". Since they all appear to be "The People" -vs- cases against an individual, with this Lawyer's name on all images, and no Plaintiff listed for all cases other than "The People", how should the Plaintiff fields of these images be keyed? Thanks in advance!

A: F7 to accept field. This is normal, as the dictionary doesn't include cites and states together. --Wiedwoman 21:54, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Q: Under what form type should the second page of the Jail Register be classified as? The left hand page of the register has the information that needs to be entered. The second page (right hand) is a continuation of the information for the convict (for example, Residence, Trial Judge, Court, Sentence, etc.). However, we are not entering any of this information. So would this page still be classified as a "Register of Convicts" and we enter no data?

A: I would class this form as a "cover page" since there is no keyable information. --Wiedwoman 20:19, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

A: It is included in the examples of Cover Pages on the wiki page. --<a href="User:Katerimmer">Katerimmer</a> 13:49, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Q: I am keying a Jail Register and the second page is not typical. It has photographs of prisoners and delivered date to San Quentin in place of the usual info for that page. I was wondering if I should set form as miscellaneous so I can mark that there are photographs available. Also, is there a way to share images to show what I am talking about?

A: This should be classified as a Register of Convicts form type as it contains "personal information about a convict or prisoner." You can follow the instructions in this article, World Archives Project: Posting How-tos to post an image on the wiki.

Q: If the name of the convict appears twice on the same register with the same "Received Date", do we enter it as two separate records? Or just as one?

A: I would only key once. -- Wiedwoman 02:55, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Q: The letters "N M N" appear after the Given names of some convicts whose occupation is Army or Navy. Should these letters be entered in the Suffix field?

A: the letters may stand for No Middle Name. --Paulmd199 02:49, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Q: I have Register of Convicts with photos. There is no Race, but there is Complexion. I can see what color the convicts are by their photos. Do I go by that? Or leave off the Race. Thank you. Virginia Welker.

Miscellaneous

Q: I have a form that I'm not sure should be Miscellaneous, Fee Book, or Cover Page. It's date is 1925-1926 and is a listing of dates, check numbers, last names only (no first names), and check amounts. How should this be keyed?

A: If you are unsure of what form type it should be but there is data to be keyed classify it as a Miscellaneous form type.

Q: I haven't been, but now I'm wondering if I should have been including business names (especially those containing last names like law firms or retail stores) in the Given Name field. I've been skipping them up to this point, but we'be been instructed to include them in Actions and Fees.

A: Generally we do not include Business names unless specifically instructed to. For the Miscellaneous records we should not be entering Business names.

Q: I am keying information from a Parole Violator card and the age of the individual is stated followed by a year in parentheses. The year is often prior to the Record Year. Should I key the stated age or calculate the age at the time of the record? An example I have is a Record Year of 1913 and the individual's age is indicated as "Age 45 (1910)".

A: Age should only be keyed as stated and not calculated. --SlinkyM</a> 03:54, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

Q: true names listed in alias column... does one switch the registered name out, or just list the "true" name as an alias?

A: I would key the true name in the name columns, and put the alias in the alias column --Paulmd199</a> 00:26, 21 March 2013 (UTC)

Q: keying wanted posters, etc... how do we handle multiple aliases... and age ranges... can we infer sex from pronoun usage?

A: Key the first alias only. I believe it will be OK to infer gender from pronouns like him or her, or from prefixes like Mr, Miss or Mrs. I have not found an answer to the age range question yet. --Paulmd199</a> </dd>

Q: I cannot find any place that says whose names are to be keyed from miscellaneous records. Obviously the criminals, but what if their parents are listed on a wanted poster? Do we key them? Do we key names of victims? What about sheriffs and other officers of the law?

A: I would suggest keying all names from the Miscellaneous records as the instructions state to type names, etc. from the information that is available. --=SlinkyM</a> 02:36, 02 April 2013 (UTC)

Q: When the form should be "index", I have just one block of space and can't seem to type anything in it. Is there a solution to that or should I type it as miscellaneous?

A: We are not keying any information form the index pages on this project. So you aren't able to enter anything for that form type. --Paulmd199</a> 16:26, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Q: Seeing page with no header/title. Contains four columns of names (Last, first) Month and Year - nothing else. Is it correct to assume that all names should be keyed on Miscellaneous form. Average page contains approx. 129 names. Thanks.

Ignore question - found the answer

What was the answer? I've looked all over and can't find one. I've even put a question on the Message Board, but no one has answered it. I have many images that are Registers of Convicts, but have no headings. Anyone?

A: Based on your basic description sounds like it could be either a Register of Convicts or Miscellaneous. Read over the descriptions, look a the example images and determine what you feel best fits. Annafechter 03:19, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Q: I have an image set that appears to be a continuation page of a Sheriff's Fee Book. It has the name of a case, "People Vs." followed by sections entitled "Sheriff's Fees and Expenses in Criminal Matters", "DR", and "Names of Jurors". Names of Jurors section is blank, but on the left side, There are dates followed by a long list of names with "1 mile" written beside each name and 10 written for each name in the "DR" section. It seems to me that this data wouldn't be keyed, that the form type for this image would be "cover page/section header, etc". Is that correct? Thank you in advance!

Suggestions/Additions

If you have a suggestion or would like to make an addition to the project page, click “EDIT” and post your suggestion here. (If you click on Rich Editor you won't have to worry about formatting your entry.) Then click “WATCH” at the top right on this page and you will be notified via email when an update has been made.